After dinner, Kronos followed his father to the study. It was a rather redundant room. Everyone already had their own private study, yet there was still a separate one on the ground floor.
Marquis Argyle normally never set foot in it, but today he brought Kronos inside.
Seeing the confusion in Kronos's eyes, Marquis Argyle said, "Puzzled? Not just about why we came here, but why this study even exists, right?"
Kronos made no attempt to hide it and nodded.
"I had the same questions back then. I even asked your grandfather, and he told me I would understand when I grew up. I learned the answer when I was your age."
"Only heirs who make it through the Speech-Ban Period are qualified to learn the family's true secrets. You still have a few days left, but that no longer matters. You'll certainly make it through those days. We're only making an exception because of the special circumstances."
Rather than explain directly, Marquis Argyle asked, "You've read so many books. Have you ever guessed where our family came from?"
Kronos froze. He had not expected a question. Then he said quietly, "The Moses Ascetic Order, I assume. The pathway is the same, and its rules have been passed down."
The marquis said with satisfaction, "Exactly. The Moses Ascetic Order. In its early days, it was a highly respected organization that enjoyed good relations with all the major churches. Its members used ascetic practices to resist losing control and mitigate the residual effects of potions. They strictly guarded their secrets and upheld their morals and precepts."
"Until the Hidden Sage came alive. At first, the members tried everything they could to solve the problem, but nothing worked, no matter what they did. The leadership split into two camps, and the founder, Stiano, left the order with some of its senior members."
"Those who remained chose to continue worshipping the Hidden Sage. Our ancestor Abel Argel was only a child then and had just joined the order."
"The Hidden Sage wasn't quite so mad at the time, either. He mainly wanted to transform the senior members who were demigods or above, so our ancestor quietly grew stronger."
"After fully digesting his Sequence 5 Astronomer potion and obtaining a Sequence 4 potion through an exchange, our ancestor fled the Moses Ascetic Order. Advancing within the order made it far too easy to lose control."
"It happened to be the end of the Fourth Epoch. After becoming a demigod, our ancestor was recruited by William Augustus, and that was how our family line began." The marquis finished recounting the origins of the Argel Family in one go.
"If the founder was a demigod, then I assume the Restorer and the Wise One were, too." Kronos had suspected as much before. Without being demigods, they would have had no power to make others wary of them. Even military achievements and relinquishing authority might not have kept them safe. They could just as easily have been disposed of along the way.
The marquis smiled with satisfaction. Naturally, having a clever son made him happy.
"That's right. Although our family doesn't have the potion formula for Sequence 4 Mysticologist, we know the advancement ritual and have a Beyonder characteristic left behind by our ancestor Abel. We don't know the supplementary ingredients, but that only makes it somewhat dangerous."
"So when the family realized the royal family intended to move against us, our ancestor Botu risked advancing to demigod. The noble title wasn't really important. What we feared was that the royal family would simply wipe us out. The war came at just the right time. Not only did it bring us military honors, it also led the royal family to believe we had a hidden demigod, making them afraid to act rashly."
"By 1034, after probing us several times, the royal family had confirmed that we had no demigod and once again planned to act. With no other way out, our ancestor Abner was forced to choose to advance to demigod."
"It was an incredibly dangerous choice. That Beyonder characteristic contained our ancestor Abel's characteristics from Sequences 9 through 4 and our ancestor Botu's from Sequences 9 through 5. The chances of success were far too low. Sure enough, our ancestor Abner immediately went mad."
"Fortunately, the family had a Beyonder item that our ancestor Abel had brought out of the Moses Ascetic Order. It had been made from a Mysticologist Beyonder characteristic, and it temporarily suppressed our ancestor Abner's madness."
"Afterward, our ancestor Abner demonstrated his strength and issued a proclamation. Only then did the family escape disaster. But he lasted just two years before passing away."
"That is our family's true history. Next, I need to talk about faith. In his later years, our ancestor Abel was often harassed by the Hidden Sage, so he chose to seek refuge with the Church of Steam and Machinery."
"He thought the Church of Steam and Machinery would certainly demand astonishing terms before agreeing to protect us. In the end, however, they only required that our family worship no other true gods and never abandon the Mystery Pryer pathway. Then they granted us protection."
Kronos silently rolled his eyes. Confirmed. Absolutely confirmed. The God of Steam and Machinery's disguise is off. Stiano really does have a bit of a conscience, just not much. He's willing to protect members of the organization he founded, but he doesn't want them changing pathways. At least that proves the organization he founded hasn't completely turned into an evil god's cult, right?
"The Church of Steam and Machinery sent specialists to build two small chapels, one in our family's fief and one beneath the study we're standing in. They can directly receive the God of Steam and Machinery's gaze and presence, so the Hidden Sage won't dare approach during an advancement."
"At other times, we can only fend for ourselves. But at least our family has a very high success rate when advancing to Sequence 6 and Sequence 5. We've always had a Sequence 5 in the family."
"Grandfather?" Kronos had guessed. It was not difficult. His grandfather's siblings had all been dead for years, and his father had no siblings.
"Exactly. Your grandfather is in Midseashire. His physical condition has begun to decline, and there's little chance of him advancing, so he simply went into hiding. That keeps us more discreet."
"In the past, you only risked attracting the Hidden Sage's attention after advancing to Sequence 7. Now even Sequence 8 is no longer safe. That's why I brought you here today. We'll use this chapel to help you advance."
With that, Marquis Argyle opened a mechanism in the floor beside him and motioned for Kronos to follow.
As soon as he descended into the underground chapel, Kronos felt a gaze fall upon him. It was like the feeling of attracting an Outer Deity's attention that afternoon, only without the intense malice.
This also resolved a question for Kronos. He had possessed those dangerous memories ever since transmigrating, yet the Outer Deity had not corrupted him immediately. It had waited until that afternoon to act.
As Kronos saw it, this was probably because the places he had previously visited were close to this chapel, where he could draw the God of Steam and Machinery's attention at any moment. Only that afternoon, when he went to the riding grounds, had he left the god's protective range.
It was officially a small chapel, since a bishop had personally led the team that built it, but it looked more like a luxurious prayer room.
While Kronos was examining his surroundings, Marquis Argyle quietly finished preparing the prayer ritual.
Kronos needed no reminder. He naturally knew the procedure.
"Great God of Steam and Machinery;
You are the incarnation of essence;
You are the protector of artisans;
You are the glory of technology;
I pray for your attention and protection."
After praying, Kronos felt the attention upon him become more distinct. He picked up the cup of potion before him and drained it in one gulp.
It had little flavor, but his tongue instantly went numb. The numbness spread to his palate, then his entire mouth, followed by his face and neck. It continued downward until it covered his whole body.
Once his entire body had gone numb, the sensation lasted less than a minute before turning into a warm current. It flowed from every part of his body toward his brain and eyes, which then felt as though they were soaking in warm water. It was wonderfully comfortable.
"Melee Scholar." Although the name had to do with fighting, and the potion considerably enhanced physical fitness and combat skills, the real core of this sequence lay in the word "scholar."
Most of the twenty-two Paths of the Divine had a core ability, such as theft for the Marauder pathway, spatial abilities for the Apprentice pathway, distorting rules for the Lawyer pathway, and establishing rules for the Justiciar pathway.
The core of the Mystery Pryer pathway lay in its Eyes of Mystery Prying, whose purpose was to see the essence of things. Melee Scholar was no exception. They had to be able to see the secrets behind combat.
Mystery Pryers used their Eyes of Mystery Prying in moments of calm, whereas Melee Scholars could use them during combat. Later, their use would become increasingly habitual.
Kronos already knew all of this. He had read it in the family's collection, along with the acting guidelines for Combat Expert compiled by his predecessors: one of the essentials of combat was to observe the environment at all times, without the slightest lapse.
Moreover, a quarter of the potion had been digested immediately after he drank it, because Kronos had already studied combat systematically. Although he had never fought in a real battle, theoretical knowledge was also part of being a Melee Scholar.
Kronos estimated that as long as he gained more fighting experience and paid close attention to his surroundings during combat, he would be able to digest this potion very quickly.
Marquis Argyle pulled Kronos up from the floor. After drinking the potion, he had collapsed during the period when his body was numb.
"How do you feel?" the marquis asked.
Kronos jumped a couple of times in place, then threw a few punches. "Pretty good. My physical fitness has improved quite a bit, my mind feels much clearer, and my eyesight seems better, too."
Marquis Argyle had also taken the Melee Scholar potion, so he naturally knew about these effects. "As long as there are no negative effects."
With their business finished, father and son found themselves looking at each other in silence. They felt they ought to say something, yet could not find a suitable topic. It was probably much the same between most fathers and sons. After forcing a few more lines of conversation, they each returned to their rooms.
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